Stardust Rhapsody: Anthem | Ep. 11 | Material Girl: Part 2

Welcome to Legends of Avantress. I'm Ziggy Woog and you're listening to Stardust Rhapsody Anthem. Rhett, Ziggy Pike, you've been able to collect any and all belongings. I took a quick shower. took a quick shower washed off the blood and the sick from the events of the day I put on my sneakers I tied my hoodie around my waist you get back in more familiar gear as you continue to collect anything you continue to collect anything that you'd want and then make your way back down back to the car as we leave the hotel room we'll very quickly look around I'll stick my head out of the balcony and get the view sort of one last time. I'll look at the table and see this morning's unfinished crossword puzzle. And I just, for a split second, I sort of just wistfully remember that moment from the morning where I was sitting there enjoying my coffee and looking at the sea and the sun and doing the crossword puzzle, and I leave and we head back to the car. A moment of true peace that seems like weeks ago at this point. Um, I would, as soon as they get out, I would, like, sit inside, like, quietly not speak, and then, like, turn on the radio and try to find, like, I'd be twisting it until round and round my rat starts playing. Like you do. And just, like, I would turn that, I would just crank it up, you know, and find their local rock station. I imagine there's some sort of sleazy rock, you know, station, and I would basically try to find it and then just sit, leaving the car running. And if the fucking valet, like, came over, I'd be like, I would just look at him and be like, no, no, no, get the fuck away from me. And they approach you. You see that same Amonite with the flopping hat, Barry, as he'll walk up. He'll take one quick look at you, see that this is not a situation to get involved in. Pause for a moment, turn right around, and walk back to the station, and stand there almost visibly uncomfortably. I'm just sitting here, just like a guitar solo going, I got your buddy, Coe, don't worry, she's going to go right here. And I'll sit. You all make it back to the car. You open the door. You move back in. You see Coe behind the steering wheel still. Pixel in the back. And all your collected belongings. All right. You don't mind continuing to drive, Yuko? I'm good. I'm getting the hang of it. All right. Let me know if you want to switch off. I'm good. You should still rest up. I'm alright I'm okay alright and I will is Pistol awake? yeah okay I'll say okay we're going to the Xenodome yeah well can't fucking miss it it's right over there I'm like pointing to the mic yeah there's a giant Coliseum dome you can see the kind of rotating Jumbotron that sits above it from where you are it blasting just the Nexus The silhouettes for the next show on another evening. So late now into the night, it's pushing the wee hours of the morning. The sounds of the city are extremely dull. There's almost no traffic as finally things have seemingly quieted down. Wait, do we need a rest? Are we going straight there? Yeah, we got to get the fuck out of here. Yeah, we aren't going to sleep. We can't sleep. Yes, if we're gonna do this We gotta do it in the wee hours of the morning Because People swarm this place all day long To be fair, we've only been here during the day So And If the Viceroy somehow talks to Weedlebox That's what I'm saying Before I'm borrowed time And the good fucking news is that Ziggy's recording, it looked like he was talking to the Don So if there's some sort of fucking game of telephone that they're playing. We may have bought ourselves some time. I was like, I would fucking die for a fucking cup of coffee now, but I don't... Get this over with. Are you sure? All of you. I don't think we really have a choice. And I gotta get home. We can do this. All right. We're still in the back of this nice luxury limo that we rented, right? It's a little roughed up, but yeah. Can I look and see if there's a mini Keurig for coffee? Long investigation check. I'll take off. We're twisting it. You start to... We're out of time. We're out of time. We're out of time. We're out of time. We're out of time. You soar off into the night, slowly but purposefully making your way towards the Xenodome. It is extremely easy to navigate to as the traffic has died down so aggressively. You do not have to be wary, really, of other cars hovering throughout the area. It's crazy. You can take a little bit of a straighter shot directly at it. It still takes you about 20 minutes to get there. I'd say probably from the time you've landed at the hotel, maybe all in, another hour has gone by before you reach the Zeno Dome. I will, as we're going, I'll kind of have this thought that I've been kind of thinking about, and without looking back, I'll say, Rhett, were there any pictures from inside of our hotel suite? I don't understand. What do you mean? He had fucking pictures of us, you know, in compromising fucking positions. Were there any of it from inside the hotel? That's a good point. I think back to Trifany. The Solari. Oh, no. I didn't like reviewing detail. He just had to screw it. No, yeah. Well, let's roll a history check on it. Oh, shit. 14? So he kind of tossed the folder down, and it did kind of strew some of the photos out, and it became expressly clear that he had significantly compromising Polaroids of you, effectively. Moments at the beach, moments at clubs, the Boa Go-Go, all throughout kind of your week. nothing that you can recall stands out from within the hotel room itself I don't think so but I didn't really look through it I just saw bits and pieces of who knows what it could you're alright you're alright Pike still feels like he dodged a bullet you'll see a hand with a cup of coffee I got a 20 oh I'm sorry do you feel confident there's no coffee there's a built in coffee machine into the car that can absolutely feel like to go. I think I would know at this point if you take it black or with cream or with sugar. I make it the way that you like it. Hey, I got you some coffee. You have some coffee. For me or her? I lean forward and push myself between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat and I hand Ko a coffee if she'll have one. Thank you so fucking much, Ziggy. Yeah, no problem. There are a bunch of cups down here. Oh, That was the last coffee. It's all Earl Grey. That was the last coffee. You know, the rest of it, it's sophisticated Earl Grey coffee. You mean tea. I'm sorry, tea. I'll take one. Yeah, okay. I'll take anything. All right, all right. All right, who wants Earl Grey? Oh, I'll take it. I hand Brett Nero Bray tea. Still kind of hot. Coffee's actually not bad. The tea, unfortunately, just tastes like hot water. But as you drink both, if either one of you have had your HP maximums affected, didn't you recover three points? Oh, shit. I already made the in-choice decision not to have any fucking teeth, so I'm not going to change my mind. Fuck! No! Oh, I'm at max. I'm at max. Let's go, baby. Oh, there you go, baby. Let's knock me to max. You sure you go? Oh, perfect. I'm not going to meta this. Pike wouldn't drink tea. A pet. Yeah, Coke. Do you know where in this place the blackmail's kept? Yeah, I mean, we're going to have to get in there, go around the cages, and start going in through the hallways and stuff, but they could show you. I mean, to be fair, I've only been here during the day, so it's going to look a lot different at night. Do you know why Weedle Fox uses this fucking place versus anywhere else? I don't know. It's not the kind of stuff that he talks to me about. I would just deliver blackmail here sometimes. Oh. Oh, yeah. Is this like a blackmail vault, is what you're saying? You know, it's not a... It's not a new working time. You wouldn't have known that it was blackmail at the time, but now putting two and two together with what they had on the party, and you now suspected this area that you may have taken documents to before, probably where he housed his blackmail. We have as accountant Colin, we put all of his papers and stuff. that's very funny I guess if he if there was ever a fucking chance that the Glitch Room got raided he wouldn't want that to be fucking well no because it's where all the important financial documents are stored yeah alright to the fucking Xeno do and I take this there uh and you you navigate there uh with the the tunes of heavy metal uh crushing out of the cranking out of the radio. I finish my coffee. As you finish your coffee and the neon lights once more stream past you as you make your way back to the familiar area of the Xenodome. You've been here before. You find a familiar landing spot and you bring the car down and you begin to make your way in. Pixel you leading the party in the form that you know now where to go. before you all walked down this kind of like private corridor down a hallway to an elevator that took you up to that private box. But this time you go in a different direction. You actually have to go into the arena itself for just a moment, out onto kind of this like arid ground that has the battle scars of the action of the day. The silent almost overcomes you. The last time you were here, it was like a beehive just thrumming with energy constantly. The roar of the crowd could be heard at almost any moment. And the only time that that was drowned out was with the clash of fang and shattering against the carapace of Beatle. It being so quiet is almost eerie for the last time you were here. and you help to navigate the party. Yeah, so we're just going to go down here and then over here. Alright. Okay, and then around here. Then down here. Watch your step. Watch your head. It's a little slippery, isn't it? Jesus. You got some voice down here. Okay, and then around here. And then into here. Step up. Alright. Watch your head. Nope. Watch your head again. Oh, sorry. Ah, fuck. Sorry. That one only came from nowhere. And eventually, you start to notice that the areas where it was really heavily tacky, it becomes a lot more analog, regular doors that open. Until eventually, you get to... Let me like cement. Like cement floors, cement walls, cement ceilings. That's kind of where we're at. And metal doors. Yeah, cinder blocks, metal doors. It's just stadium. Yep, exactly. For sure. The doors around here come here. The last time you saw tech was basically in the pit helping to secure and illuminate the actual battle arena, and then maybe, like, ticket scanners out front. But the second you crossed into this section, all cement, all analog, only normal doors locked. Until eventually, Pixel, you've only been here in the daytime. Now at night, without kind of any company aside from your new friends or these new people you've come to spend this last week with deciding to trust, it does take a little while to kind of navigate there. But you do eventually come back to a once more red door engraved with GJW on the dead center in the door. And in its form, exactly that, an analog keyhole, not a scanner, nothing to hack, nothing to overcome, but just a brass key to go into a keyhole. Pixel will pull, there's a chain around her neck, and she'll pull what is a locket out of her top and open it up, and you'll see that there's a photo in there on one side. it's her on Weedlevox's lap and then on the other side it's him like clapping for her at her very first show and nestled between the two of them is this very small key that's got a little heart on the top and so she'll pull it out and she'll stick it in the lock and she'll turn it and you'll hear a bunch of clicks. As you turn that key you do hear the locks unfurl as several tumblers, secures, locks, whatever it is, more than you would have expected almost, all flip open once more at your command. It seems as though there is no door truly barred to Pixel Pop in Paradise City. And this one, once more, opens at your beckon. Oh, shit, wait, hold on. Yeah, no, I didn't hear any alarms or anything, so I think we're good. All right. Let me go in first, though, just to be safe. And I will, like, slowly step over the threshold and listen. No, I think we're fine. Roll a... Perception. Perception check. Yeah, I think we're fine. Yeah, yeah. One of these, one of these. Let me see what her perception is. She actually probably... I mean, Bars... No, no, no, no. I would say, I mean, it doesn't have to be terribly high. A seven. My passive perception of 14, if that matters? So both, right? With the passive, you kind of just casually listening out as you kind of focus your attention a little bit more. Nothing feels relatively familiar. Now, normally when you've been here, the door's not locked. It's operating hours, as it were. And as you come here, you can be gestured in. But even now, nothing seems to raise any alarm. Nothing seems out of the ordinary to you. You don't hear anything off in the distance. And you feel confident being able to move into this room. Yeah, I mean, it seems safe, so... If you guys want this blackmail, then... Now's the time. All right. Let's fucking fan out, I guess. Well, look where I think it could possibly be. I mean, where our best bet is, but... I mean, the more eyes, the better, for sure. All right. Just make sure whatever you pull out, you put back exactly the way that it was. Not a dog here on any page. Nothing. The folders got to be exactly where they were. Understood. Why? Because he knows how everything is in here. Well, all right. Even one thing's out of place. You've got to go home to this, okay? I don't want him to know about you. All right, all right. I'll be careful. He'd never forgive me if he found that idea. Can you just take pictures? Yeah. There we go. I'll take these cabinets over here. Yeah, what does the room look like? As you swing this door open, in the dead center of this room, close to as you enter, there is a simple wooden table, but behind it, a lavish red chair, leathered, as if simply for a single person to sit at with a desk in front to review. behind it, like running in rows, stretching, not terribly far back, but enough that you know that this will be a bit of a hunt, rows and rows of, like, iron filing cabinets, like true just hard locked filing cabinets. You might move to just the very first one in the line, and as you pull at it, maybe hoping to see something that you could potentially hack and locate something very quickly, you see a drawer filled with papers. Are any of them labeled, like, with an alphabet? Like, you know, A, B? Yeah, there seems to be a certain, like, organizational style to it. As I begin to walk towards the first row, I kind of look back over my shoulder at Rhett and I say, there's no way that Don's name is Don, right? And I head towards that, to the D section of the filing cabinets to see if I can find them alphabetically. Roll an investigation check. I'll start at Z. I'm going to just start at A. I'm going to start at the beginning. My investigation is a nine. Oh, fuck. I've darkened. Roll, actually, I'm sorry. Roll a, presumably everyone's going into these rules. Roll a group investigation check. Everyone's taking cabinets. I like really, you know. No, for sure. Does this seem like a plaything to say? Yes. I got a nine. I got a three. I got seven plus two is nine. Nineteen. Nice. And I got a 17. Thank God for it. Thank God for it, bros. Actual it, bros. Actual it, bros. You all start searching. You're rifling through these papers. and you find a lot of stuff that just really doesn't make sense to you. I mean, there are financial documents, there are compromising photos, but nothing too terrible that stands out to you. I mean, you're in here searching for probably 25, 30 minutes, you're putting files on the desk trying to go through, make sense of anything, anything that connects to the Don. The head of the porn authorities are real sick fuck. Oh my, oh my god. You do start to find files that show and reflect blackmail on judges, senators, key effectors across different worlds. Regulators, politicians, yeah. You eventually find a file in reference to... That's how you direct the efficient game. Wow, that's funny. you eventually find a file that references high-ranking members of the Macoro Police Force and blackmail I keep everything neatly in order and I take photos of everything I find you just start hey Brad I found your file I can't believe that jackass thought that this was going to sway you this is like a Tuesday good times man oh no my story is he like created an entire fake profile for her oh yeah she's very real do you have a back story I mean yeah I generated a whole thing I wrote it all up good job Ziggs I mean it's still there if we ever need it would it be weird if we pinned this one up on the fridge No, no, let's not take it. All right, all right. If anything happens to Rhett, then she technically owns 50% of Rhapsody Records. Oh, no. Wait, legally? Oh, yeah. I mean, she might be fake, but it wasn't as easy to create an entire label, so I just registered the label. We'll solve that later. I just had the whole thing to do. Do something with this. I will quickly take it. I'll literally just dig a video and I'll fan it one page at a time. So I don't even need to take photos. I'm just capturing the information as quickly as possible. Just trying my best to make sure. That's my record. No, no, no. Get rid of it. Get rid of it. How about we do this? No, wait, wait. Then I'll go over and I'll press the digitation and clean it all up so all the ink's gone. Oh. If you would allow it. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that tracks. Yeah. There you go. That's the only one I'll do it for, but it's just because it's you. Fine. And I have video stuff. The likelihood of him looking in your file again is pretty slim, so as long as the file's there, we should be fine. and it's with this group check after a while uh pixel you eventually come across a file um where you do finally for the first time in all this paperwork find mention of the don however it's very little information about him directly but it does mention another name that you find interesting. Rex Maxim. Hey! Guy, can you come here for a second? Sure, what do you find? What do you find? Oh, sorry, that's the big ditty Claudarian, and I put that one back. Really? And I'll hold up the document. That name! You said that name, right? Oh, no way. Oh my god Gee, who wants this? Here, give it here Give it here Give it to Red What does it have on him? What does it have to do? As you start to read every word As you start to consume every word on the page Like delicious nectar You A story unveils itself to you Please And it starts to become clear that the The avenue to the Don is not impossible, though the road directly to him seems very obscured. It looks as though Weedlevox himself had this information on Rex Maxim to potentially use against the Don if ever he felt that was necessary. And what you find in this file is that throughout his career as a celebrity, a desperado in space, the real cowboy amongst the stars, as he was going on these gambling tours and talking himself up, he actually independently racked up a significant amount of debt in the wrong casinos. And as he owed more and more money and it became more and more difficult to dig himself out of it, he found himself on the hook with the Scarlet Eye Syndicate and directly in charge and controlled by the Don himself. And it outlies the exact amounts of money he's in debt for and the plan that he uses him to execute. He uses his celebrity status now moving throughout these other casinos and acts effectively in the style of a man with a case. He goes in almost unassumingly, though his charm, his celebrity status gives him access to just about any room he'd like. He makes it oftentimes simply to the vault, in which place he will take the syndicate's skim of the take from any and every casino that he goes to, before eventually he brings it back to the Don himself. This is the Don's main stooge, patsy, gopher guy that he gets to do his stuff. And he is firmly, firmly on the hook. Is there any blackmail on just, like, Rex as a person beyond, like, Don connections? Like, anything that he's done or that he, like, any uncomfortable secrets, you know? You turn the page. Are you reading this out loud? No, yeah. You're never going to fucking believe it. You're like just being a fucking patsy. I'm standing over your shoulder and just taking photo after photo. Another thing you know that he has become especially known for is being this hunter of aliens, discovering new species, strange and odd aliens from all around the galaxy. Fucking jackass. Beyond the realization that he's in debt, we also find blackmail identifying that his expeditions in large were fraudulent and put on by his show's producers. The new species he'd been discovering were actually simply biologically engineered and given to him by Chimera Bionetics, which the Don also is financially tied to. There are, towards the end, it is unclear, but there is a series of Polaroids that seem to photograph him in the company of what you would presume is the Don's wife. So you've read all this out loud. This guy is so fucked. He's a hack fraud. Okay. What? As soon as you read this, Pike has had a day, and I just... No! No! Are you serious? This dude's fucking a dog. Please, you gotta take HD photos of every fucking thing. I got it. This is too perfect. I can't believe this. I fucking knew it. No. I knew that fucking jacket. We knew it. We called it. Oh, those producers. We fucking told you guys. Oh. Oh. You have never seen Pike laugh like this. Ever. I listened to his face. It's all a Yacht Rock album so much. His holiday tracks. His board is true. It explains why he was in all those weird spin-off reality TV shows. He was trying to pay these fucking debts. The last thing you see on the final page is a handwritten note circled that says, frequent connections at 7th heaven. Do we get any information on the Don, his name, his wife's name, or is it just like a title? Oh, good question. Oh. Great question. under, uh, under the photo of Rex with this woman, uh, you see a, uh, the, the names written Rex Maxim and a Natra Contralto. So, throughout the paperwork as well, you'll see only once mentioned Don Nido Contralto. Don Contralto. Guys, Rex is a dead man walking. I mean so Weedlevox has on us his boss he knows that his wife is getting railed by Rex Maxim and he didn't tell him because he was waiting to use it if he wanted to turn on the fucking dog you know Weedlevox is a clever son of a bitch you know that you're right he is if he's this fucking clever the fact that we fooled him this much and got it this far is a fucking miracle and that means we really did miss our shot but you're not going to take a shot well maybe he will be the new Don after we're fucking done and I'd be okay with that Look, I think we have a lead. If Rex is this connected to the Don, we know where he's going to be. That's right. He kicks off his Rex Max in real space cowboy lady, Lux smiling, casino tour at 7th Heaven in three weeks. Three weeks. Three weeks. We can get there. And if he finds out how much danger he's in, then maybe he'll help us. of course for the madame. Mrs. Ume would be so disappointed she was in love with Rex Maxim. Look, I have no sympathy for any son of a bitch who, you know, fell for that jackass's charm. Mrs. Ume! To be hell of a damn. No, I don't mean like... Come on, Rex. I don't mean her in particular. I just mean... Look, I don't get the appeal. I don't understand it. I'm just glad this guy is exactly who we've been saying he is for fucking years. I'm a son of a bitch. All right, are you doing this too much? I think there's more to the story than, than, than, than, than, than, these folks. I mean, he's fucking the guy's wife. You know, right? Well, we're certain whether you have that. You know, let's just give Pac a few minutes with the file, and then I think he... What? You can see that I'm shuffling through the Polaroids. What is into that? What a jackass. Oh, boy, I'll toss the Polaroids like on the desk into the file. I got to tell you guys, I really needed this. Like this news about Rex Maxim causes you to recover for... Yeah! The color comes back to me. The color, your hair once again. It's better than the drink. The vibrancy re-exites. I don't know what my life is anymore. As once again you enjoy for the first time in a while. Once again you... That's very funny. That's extremely generous of you. Well, if we're done here, we should probably get everything cleaned up and get out of here right away, because we shouldn't be here. We've got to get home. Yeah, I think we've got everything that we need, unless we want to take photos of more blackmail and have that in case we need it. And you promise, right? This isn't going to be like the lies about Rav C Records. You promise you're going to leave Mr. W alone? I promise. We agree. We have what we need, and you have our word. And again, I feel fucking terrible. I'm sorry about all that. Okay, I forgive you. This is who we are. I just want to make your call. You promise? I promise. And it was for anybody else, Picks. I would say now. But for you, because we lied to you because this is your life and it's your life, not ours. What else can I say? You don't understand. When you come visit, you'll see how much we love each other. All right. Well, let's get the fuck out of here. We finally get some sleep. Lincoln, you'll drop me off back at the goods room before you head out. Yeah. Okay. Polaroids, get out of here then You put the file away, Pike I gave it to Ziggy I've got it Oh no, this is the big titty clodderon Why is this ending up in my hand? Would the polaroids or the information let us know what species the dog and his wife were? They're both humans Oh. Interesting. Do we know the wife's name? Did I miss that? Anatra. Anatra. Anatra Contralto. Nido. And Anatra Contralto. Oh. Sorry, did you just have a question? No, no. Oh, the species. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You begin to make your way back down the hallway. Now, kind of once more, the feeling of kind of losing out on the bounty of Weedlevox after having invested so much money, so many notes, and not just that, but all the events of the time that you've been here were starting to really fuel down. But now, seemingly, with a new lead, and just so happens it's Rex Maxim who made you look like absolute fools on Maximum Hunters. You couldn't be feeling better. You have just a particular skip in your step as you make your way back down these cement hallways. The only illumination, these faintly glowing red lights that line the hallway as you make your way back out. And you walk for a couple minutes until once more you see you kind of are coming out of the back and you see the Colosseum start to open to you once again. You locked up. Oh, yeah, of course. You locked up. I locked up. And then it hits you for a second. Yeah, I saw it. She locked up. Don't worry. I don't care. It's just fucking analog keys. It's going to be okay, buddy. It's a nightmare. It's going to be okay. We're going to get back to the digital world soon enough, buddy. It hits you all at once kind of as you start to walk out into the main section of this Coliseum A couple things that had kind of been gnawing at the back of your subconscious but with so many other things going on it was hard to notice in the moment Wait a second. Were red lights blinking when we went down there? And is the Colosseum filled with water? No. I don't remember that. Arid was the word the game match used. Uh-oh. Wasn't as arid as I'm going to go? I remember it being very arid. Rhett, it sure was arid. However, no longer. As you make your way out of the tunnel, you start to realize that though you did not pick up on it when you entered the door, as you unlocked the blackmail vault, you did in fact trigger a silent alarm. You have it has sent PBs and doodle balls. You know. It has triggered the only defense protocol that the Xeno arena has ever needed. The analog one. I'm unlocking the cage of the King of Beasts. Oh, this is why I gave you the extra next feedback. I see. As you look out, the Colosseum that you had walked into, perfectly arid, cracked with the battle scars from all of the fights that have happened, not just earlier in the week, but all throughout its time here. The water once more flooding the sections of the Colosseum as you step out. It's almost up to your knees as those same crystalline spires arise from the ground, some in pink, some in slate gray. As in the dead center of this section, there's a burbling. As the water starts to ripple and bubble until the surface breaks, and out arcs the giant Leviathan, the giant Leviathan eel, with its large, as its mouth opens in this terrible grin, the Leviathan smiles, and you see rows and rows of razor teeth, still soaked with the blood of the beetle from earlier in the week, as it lets out that terrible shriek. And I need everyone once more to roll for initiative. Oh, yeah! You're going to be the Clorox White humanist. I will look back at everyone and I'll go, oops. Did I do this? You did this! You did this! You did this! You did this! You have the White somewhere. Is that right? No, there's another one. I mean, we can probably use it. I got you. No, I thought they were, like, literally on the team. I mean, use these if we need to. I just thought it was... I got a 12. And then just a couple pieces of paper towel, if possible. I love Dan cackling with glee. I can't do plots. I just picture Dan being at home, minding their own business, and just occasionally being like, I imagine Dan sitting in a large leather chair in a dark room. Yeah, like a glass of whiskey on the arm. Just watching him scream. Yeah, exactly. A large fluffy cat as he strokes it. Is it Dan? Is it Dan? Is it Dan? Yeah. Well, it's one star. You know there's no Dan. Tune in sometime down the line where Dan guest stars as the dog. Do you need to draw Matt? Yes, I will, but I'll start with initiative. Okay. Everyone tell me what you got Oh, 10 Wait, wait, 20 to 25 Sorry, I'm so sorry 20 to 25 19 21 Golly I think Ziggy only got 21 I get 19 So Ziggy can go first Unbelievable Oh, you were tied Ziggy and Pixel Who's going to go first? Ziggy can go before Pixel Ziggy, Pixel, Red Mike, go You got a 12 I got a 14. The name was Terror from the Deep. Terror of the Deep. I'm sorry. Co-Pike. Pike was it for me. I'm dead last. My initiative rolls are terrible. Red was 19. You were what? I was 14. Oh, okay. And then Co was dead last. Oh, a lair action. Yeah. Oh, you've noticed that. Oh, joy. Not that I know. I just need an initiative card. There's layer right there on the bar. Layer. Excellent. Oh, shit. Layer. It's layer. Like the way Rhett says layer. Layer. Layer. Layer. Layer. It's like a layered cake. Let me just review. I just want to go on record saying that I didn't need those extra ten hit points, Miz. Okay. I'm literally never scared. Those are handout hit points. Yeah, I don't eat those. Yeah. You never know. You kind of patronize me? Look, Rhett wanted to sleep it off, but who knows it would have happened. Yeah. That's true. We'd all be dead. We'd all die of a mysterious gas leak in the hotel. That's true. The terror of the deep, this chimeric leviathan with its terrible tendrils and its rows and rows of spear-like razor teeth as its terrible gripping yellow eyes stare down at you as its sickening smile licks around the edge of its mouth. It rears up. Oh, I should have dropped a map. We're going to... Yum! Yum! Let's get a look at this old... I got you. I got you. Thank you, sir. Oh, boy. That was a good sound. How many spell slots do I have left? But we have one! Nothing on a short rest? Nope. Damn. Yeah, same. I would be totally screwed if it weren't for Arcane Recovery. That's a big arena. That's a good shape. That would be really well-shaped. I don't know if Paladins get anything back on the short list. I don't know. They'll get their sprites or channel divinities, maybe? Definitely not. I feel like every class, when you hit the short list button, should do all the things. That's a big boy. Oh, yeah. Now, just know that the entire arena, this outer ring are the stands. This intersection is the whole Coliseum. That's cool. And then there are... I'm so sorry. Those are the giant spires. I don't think I can do better. My question is, are they that pointy at the top where you can't stand on them? Or are these, basically, these four squares? No, they're just like, that's just how I articulated it on the map. But they're kind of, I mean, they're like, hang on. Let me go back to the... If we can stand on them, I can do that. And what, are they like 60 feet tall? Like, how tall are they? These are the coastal pillars. Oh. They're weathered spires of rock that rise out of the turbulent waters that now fill the Colosseum. Almost this inorganic wind whips around, lashing the water. The rock is mottled gray and crystalline pink. And that's what you have around that. I'm certain we're not going to get acid rain on us. Why from wind the wind blows? Nah, why would we? so it's more like these are like yeah they're more like jagged and like yeah yeah that's a really good way to articulate it I just dream quick but just to oh where are we great question so we'll call yes we'll call that the viking is certainly looking at you we'll say that you were all just coming out of the tunnel. And as you walked out, the gate, the portcullis slams closed behind you as you are now locked. So we came from under the stadium into like here probably. Yep, yep, perfect. So you can put yourselves, if I have you... And the exit's probably over here maybe, I don't know. There is no exit. The only way out is with a Leviathan in a box. No. Do the screenshot. Yeah, but I... Who would have been in front? Good question. I mean, you can feel like either Pixel or maybe Pixel and Co. I will go, for sure. Like leading the party out. I'll take you back here on this team and I'm dating you. Yep. Care of the deep, I voted for you. I voted for you. Me too. We all voted. As the terrible cry of the Leviathan rings out through the Colosseum, as it lunges forward, striking at Ko in the front, as this massive hideous eel creature surges forward, biting at you, Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp. It gets a natural 20. Oh, no. Oh, wow. What a way to open. It's been a fun game. The only one I've rolled so far today, so I got it. You know? I got it. I got it. I can't read about it. Why would I? Oh. Okay. This won't be so bad. Yeah. It's not so bad. I guess you like sheep. She, you like. as this terrible eel surges forward it crackles with this energy as these this terrible maw with teeth as long as spears opens up as it bites into you but as its maw closes around you and you take this slash and you feel that charge of lightning course through you, you take 18 points of lightning damage well I take 9 but that's good Oh, wow. Really? I take it back. I need those ten hit points. However, you have disadvantage on the next attack roll you make before the end of its next turn. Roger that. As you still feel this almost, like, paralyzing effect of this foreign lightning energy crackling through the muscles in your body, almost constricting you. I'm storm-borne, too! It will then, as it bites and slashes towards you, it will look and slither towards, or just turn directly at Pixel and attempt to swirl around her deftly. And I need you to make a strength-saving throw, Pixel. Oh, no. Oh! Sorry. 19. What is it? 19. Wow! 19. With a 19, you summon the strength of music. We built this city on Synthwave Roll. And you hold back the terrible constrictor eel as it cannot find a way. It can't really grab onto you because of your size. I may be small, but I'm mighty. And just nothing happens. It totally misses you on a miss. Ziggy, I will, seeing all of this run, Oh, actually. I think this thing's resistant to acid. A lot of acid. I bet every note I ever made. Well, we saw it get melted by acid, didn't we? Oh, no, we did, actually. We did see that it got through. The beetle was completely... Like the movie Ants. When the termites attack the ants. That fucked me up. The acid that the termites eat. I have the idea to run the script that I originally was going to run when we had our fight against the silence, and I pull it up and accidentally hit the same text-to-speech thing. So the voice that I typed all in order, three minutes long, starts playing in the background, but I'm not going to do it. Instead, I'm going to cast Scorching Ray, and I'm going to... All of a sudden, a portal opens, exposing the hypergrid, and three beams shine out, and one pulse, two pulse, three pulse flies into this creature in a beautiful scan line here. pulls. 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0. Exactly. Uh, 16. 16 hits? Yeah. Okay. Oh, shit. Uh, more. Uh, that's not gonna hit. That's a 9. Correct? Yes, I will assume. Cool. 2d6. Oh. Nice. Eleven points of fire damage slams into the side of this beast as all of a sudden it ignites into a massive explosion, each one of these beams suddenly combusting with fire and smoke. And how you see yourself land this blazing attack onto the eel as it combusts and the smoke blasts off of it, it looks it's still extremely hardy not as if that didn't do anything or it didn't notice it but it has so much more to give we can do this we got this everybody run Pixel as a bonus action I'm going to turn towards Ko and say, You got this, Ko. I believe in you. And so does Howdy Bunny. And I'm going to cast my Bardic Inspiration, and it's going to be a little hologram of Howdy Bunny that dances around Ko. And then... Wake up, bitch! And I'm filled with the power of Howdy Bunny. And I'm like, I can do anything! What does Howdy Bunny sound like? Howdy Bunny! It's going to haunt my nightmares. Okay, and so a biggie has shot. So the only person outside of me that hasn't gotten the additional dazzling inspiration is Rhett. So I believe, or did you get one? I didn't think so. Yeah, I didn't think so. So you'll also see if Howdy Bunny is saying, Howdy Bunny, Howdy Bunny, these little tiny green pixelated up arrows bounce out of its mouth and hop around you, and you feel emboldened. You have a D4 on your very next D20. So I got a D6. Yeah, that's within an hour. I'm going to take this hit and evolve some of that. You still have a real inspiration over there. I do. I thought I used it. Yeah, I used it to try and hit. So that is part of Conspiration there. When you killed the final silent. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then for my action, can I use two cantrips if one of them is a bonus action? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yes. I just couldn't remember because I know cantrip spell, whatever. And then I'm going to strum my keytar and shoot stars out at this creature. And I will be at disadvantage because he's in my face. So that's fine. Or is it? That's not fine, she said. Ten. Is this all difficult to rain, by the way? That was going to be my question. So, I would say the water at this point for Coe is safe to say is probably just above your knee height. So, for it is... Pixel's starting to... Yeah. Pixel's definitely treading water. And it is... Yes, it is difficult to rain. So because Ziggy have made it that far. Oh, it is difficult. First train moving back half to the speed. I'll move. Ziggy's definitely kind of like, as you move, you're almost doing this. No, no, no. If it's difficult terrain, then I would have gotten half to my movement. You can get one more square. I was here. Five. Ten. Go diagonal. as this happens you'll see this terror of the deep once more look down at all of you raise up almost for a moment as you see that same sickening smile curve across its mouth as it begins to crackle and glow with electricity you see as electricity around it around its body energizes and then snaps down and connects with the water everyone who is in the water lightning shoots out and hits you and I need all of you to make a constitution saving throw anyone in the water it's going to be a 22 come on I fail another constitution throw down the drain I fail 23 I can't wait to lose all of my turns no that's wrong please don't make me lose my turn I'm going to get either stunned or paralyzed or, you know, something. That's a J. Mesa spelling. Mike, I regret it. You are. You take five points of lightning damage if you have failed. What's the DC? Oh, I'm sorry. The DC was 15. Constitution saving throw, 15. And we take five if you fail? On a failure, you take five points, and if you failed during your next turn, you may only take one of the following, an action, a bonus action, or move. On a success, you will take half damage, so two on a success. And you are not then restricted in that way. But if you failed, you may only do one thing on your next turn. And red, it's to you. So I think you passed. So you'll take two lightning damage. Oh, I take half, but I'm not... You're not restricted to action, bonus action, or move. You still have your full kit, but you do take the damage. Okay. Let me do that. Damage. I can't fucking walk in this thing. I'm going to... Oh, God. I know. We're a tough situation. This is tough. This is bad. I do, like, that's one, but it's two. Yeah. And that's three, four. I can probably do that. So I'm going to move there. And I think we've got to go up. And I'll, like, crank on my harness. I'll turn some things, and you'll see the takes that there were as all of a sudden sort of the gravity lightens on me and I start to slowly levitate. I put 20 feet in the air. Things that make you stay. No way. That is fucking so cool. And I can only move by pushing or pulling as a fixed object. So once I'm 20 feet up, I'm trying to grab this pillar and in my future turns, like kind of shoot myself up until I'm at the top of it. Yeah. I would say that you are relatively easily capable. If you have, like, even any kind of moderate control, and I would rule that you do, over this kind of anti-grav movement you're doing, you can reach out and grab onto the pillar. Roll a, we'll say, roll a low DC perception check on the pillar to just make sure you can find a solid handhold. A low DC perception check. I got a 15. You find it. You find a handhold as you're going up. You can easily grab onto a section and be comfortably holding on, your weight being far less than it is as you're levitating upwards. You don't feel the full weight of your body, your kit, resting on your arm as you hold there. You're just steadying yourself. Perfect. So what I will do is I have my cannon in my one arm. I'm going to pass it to the pneumatic arms on my back and let it hold the cannon for now. Just be ready for my next turn, because, again, I don't think I have a single bonus action I can do as a character. Damn, please, quick, send it. It's nothing to do. Pass my turn. Excellent. Fight. I can only do one thing, so I'm going to use my action to level the gauntlet at this creature over pixel and fire a shot at this thing and while I'm attempting to draw down on this massive creature that's right in front of me, I'm going to kind of shout just two pixels and say, Pixel, get behind us! And I'm going to take a shot at this thing. I got a 20. 30-20. 20 hits? Just 1d6. That is going to be 8 points of radiant damage. with eight points you fire out that classic magenta blast from your from the end of your finger finger as you uh you you wore up the gauntlet it fires out and lands cleanly on the center of this uh terrible leviathan that's taking place back in the coliseum as it hits the yellow eyes swift and look and lock directly on you as it reaches over pixel in almost like a crashing wave falls down upon you as its maw grabs at you as it makes a bite attack. Uh-oh. Don't you laugh. Don't you laugh. That's a 26. That's going to do it. Does this involve piercing damage? This is lightning damage. Just lightning? It is just lightning damage. Okay. I will not react to it. You take four points of lightning damage. Oh, I'm sorry. You take eight points of lightning damage. Okay. And you have disadvantage on the next attack roll you make before the end of its next turn. Just one attack roll. Yes. Perfect. That's all I can do. I can't move. I took my one action. Cool. We have to kill this thing. There's no way we can make it across without killing this thing. We can barely move. Well, I don't have to fucking do this, but I guess since you're some genetic freak, I'm not killing an endangered species, and I'm going to... I miss. Make an attack roll, cling. I stumble, feeling still fried. It's hard to... You're accustomed to swinging with your hips. and putting that full weight behind your strike. And it's hard in this body of water to get any real momentum going as you swing forward. As back at the top of the round, the Leviathan will have seen Rhett ascend up that pillar, and it will extend up and elongate its body as it looks at you, almost at the same eye level. You look over and you see this face meet you as its eyes lock directly on you. And it surges forward like a snapping snake, and it grabs that terrible maw at you once more. with a 20, I believe a 20 to hit. Ugh! Do I... I'm going to save the spell slot, and I will take the damage. You take 10 points of lightning damage, and you have disadvantage on the next attack roll you make before the end of your next turn. Oh, let me see if my Ecaron stuff recovers on a short rest or a little. Actually, can I do it per proficiency bonus? What keeps happening to that? I need to get this. I feel like that is correct. I feel like it's the amount of times of your proficiency. It is... Yep. Okay, so I reduced that by five, six, seven. Nice. So you take three points of lightning damage. But I'm still disadvantage. You are still disadvantage on the next attack roll you make before the end of your next turn. Three points of damage. Got it. Ziggy. Oh, shit. I will... Oh, wait, wait for concentration. I'm going to run. And I will... Can you do more than move? Did you save against that thing? Hmm? Because on our turn, we can only move attack for bone effect unless we save. I did save. Oh, okay. Yeah, I got a 22. Making sure. I got a 22. I'm going to look for a script. I understand that this creature is lightning-based very much, but I have access to the hypergrid, and I don't care. So I'm going to quickly pull up a script, and looking around, And do I see, this is a completely analog space, so it's not digital and holograms and the whole sorts of things, but do I have a sense that there's a power source nearby somewhere? Yes. So the actual intersection of the Colosseum where the ground is almost like magically affected and changeable and how once a beast has arisen as Victor, how they're able to get it back in the cage is kind of enacting some of these mechanical kind of, like, laser prod rods that will get them to kind of go back into sections. A laser prod rod is perfect. I will look up, two screens show up in front of me. Whenever combat happens, I've got them ready to go, and all of a sudden I spot this thing, and I go, oh, of course, and I take a pen and I draw a line from one screen to the other and make a few connections, and all of a sudden I have this script that I can run, Tether Protocol, and I will cast Witch Bolt on the serpent creature. I need to hit it, is actually what happens here. I'm going to make a ranged spell attack. That's cocked. That is going to hit 22, and I'm going to deal six. Oh, fuck. I need to... Ten points of lightning damage and I will use my reaction to enlist immune. If it's immune to lightning damage, I can't do shit. It's immune. Immune to lightning damage? All right. Well, I tried. And it silences you for your arrogance. That would be very funny. I was hoping it was just resistance. I wanted that little taste of extra damage every round, but I flew too close to the sun. Also, Dan said... Wait, so did you do no damage? I do no damage. Oh, wow. Dan said just the absolute coldest shit on the planet like an hour ago, and I didn't call out. He said, cold iron burns the grid runner. That's so cool. Feels appropriate to bring that up. I saw that. I saw that. You know, I was hoping that... Well, I will say that I also got a gimme during the last fight because of the Shatter Thunder. They should have been immune to that thunder, and I can't turn off immunity. I can only turn off resistance. We all make mistakes. Yeah, well, I've made two now, so I feel really good about my thing. Let's continue. We're just having fun. We all make mistakes. Actually, what do you mean? Let's see. He's out there. He's looking particularly bothersome. What are your hands up? I mean, I'm balling something. I'm shouting at this thing. I'm also just attacking it. I'm not running. The Leviathan rears back having just struck it red. It rears back and looks at you, Ko, and begins to kind of turn and adjust towards you. But it doesn't do a snapping lunge towards you. Instead, it opens its maw and lets out that sickening shriek as it fires out a sonic pulse at you. What are you going to do? Shatter my eardrums? What's a 20? Coe, stop saying these things. As I watch you get a flitter in my head. I like the Bose commercial. Yeah, I can't do it. I used to be able to, and now I can't. It's the weirdest thing about that. I don't know why you can. I'm stretching. I'm fucked. Yeah, I don't know. You have more flexible cheeks than I do, Andy. It's bizarre. I'm just looking at Sven, you know? I'm like Gumby. You take 15 points of thunder damage. Thank God I'm in resistance all the time. You have a thunder too? Yes. God, you're so good at K-Ryzo. I'm a Ryzo. Oh, man. You take 15 points of thunder damage. I'm just bad. And because it hit you square on, you are deafened until the start of the monster's next turn. as its shriek crackles down about you and does blow out your eardrums. Almost as if you're discovering that you have the power to speak words to reality. Pixel. Having heard what Pike said about getting behind, Pixel will move behind Pike. And that will be my turn. Okay. Is that an opportunity attack? Is that an opportunity attack? She's actually still within range. Oh, that's right. That's right. Do you want to attack it? Oh, yeah. Do you want to do one or the other? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We're right. Yeah. Damn. Damn. Well. Well, well, well. Reactions still work, though, probably. I would say reactions work. Yeah. It only limited attack, bonus action, or movement. It's on your turn. Yeah. It's more like kind of what you can do in the moment. This is more like short, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I still have Howdy Bunny. Short, howdy. Short, howdy. Pipe, make a strength saving throw, please. I would be honored to fail this one. Oh, I got an 18, actually. An 18? Once again, this Kraken of the Deaths lunges towards you and attempts to wrap itself around you, but you are so deaf that as it encircles you, You're able to, even in the wet and with the slimy, slick skin, you're still able to put your hands on it and push just hard enough that you use its kind of constriction to rocket you out as you bounce up in the air for a moment, and then as it moves, you land back down in the water calmly. Not today. Rhett. How tall are these things? Varying sizes. I would say that one is 30 feet tall. unless you'd like it to be. If that's perfect, it's 30 feet tall. I will, with Levitate, you can use your movement to go straight up or straight down. So I'm going to go up 10 more feet and grab and basically land on top of the DBZ pillar. Yep. It has kind of like a flat, standable section at the top. I am going to I'm going to grab the grab cannon out of the arms and I'm going to pull a lever a lever's going to pull it and I'll pull it and you'll see, and not that you can see this, but if you could, the singularity, like, fumes a little bit. And as I pull, like, a bypass lever, and the hose that connects to my grab can, it goes in a certain ether, uh, start to bubble and turn, uh, sharply acidic, as the nozzle turns more targetedly as I spray-past it all over the top of this creature. Ideally in a place that would be hard to wash off as a giant creature like this, and like, you know, so much feet of water. As I cast Tasha's Caustic Brew. Oh, gross. Which I, is it concentration? It is concentration. That's fine. I drop concentration on Levitate now that I'm standing on top of the G. Yeah! And I go hand. It's a 30-foot line all over this guy. I'm going to like walk up here. Yeah. And spray down upon it. And it must sustain on Dexade where we covered in acid for the spell's duration. Uh, oh, maybe the deck's really good, I don't know. Alright, wait. Yay! I made that! 14? That fails. Nice! Let's fucking go. It takes 7 points of acid damage at the start of... Oh, wait. Shit. Uh... It doesn't take acid damage yet at the start of its turn at run. I rolled really well now, so that's fine. We'll keep it. Keep the roll. It will take seven damage at the start of his turn. Yeah, just keep the roll. Okay. I'll notate it and just keep me honest. And I'll remind you too. I wrote it down, but it'll have happened here. And you know that it does not take well to acid. You've seen this thing, Alfre. You've seen it. Exactly. And that thought, as you think back to as they battled, another almost sickening thought occurs to you. you in a dead tie heat you chose this you voted for this creature to win your casting vote shifted the abilities in the direction that caused the eel to overcome the giant rhino beetle and you are faced with this terrible monstrosity of your own choosing you built the fate that you exist with you built this city You built this city on terrible chimeras. Pike. I see this happen, and I just basically shout it to the red. Nice job, buddy! And I'm going to use a focus point, and Flurry of Woes to attack this thing three times. The first attack is a disadvantage. First attack is a disadvantage. Thank you, yes. A 15 to hit is my low. 15 hits? 15 is the AC, I think. Oh, God. Congrats. 15 is the AC. First one will hit the second two one will miss the second one will hit So two of my three attacks will hit Four three five 15 points of radiant damage over two attacks As one goes wide, I pepper him with two, and I'm just, I don't move any closer to it because I don't want to be at disadvantage. And I'm also just trying to keep, use my body as a shield for Pixel. Like just, I don't want this thing to like look at her, I'm just trying to keep cover for me. You're almost trying to keep its eye on you, stand directly in front of Pixel, peppering of that magenta, almost beautiful blast firing out from you as it finds purchase once again. And I end my turn as I shout to Ko, I'm still right here with you, Ko! I'm going to try to draw it away! I got it! I'm going to basically turn away and basically trying to like shout, hey, I voted for you, Darren the Deep! I guess you're the fucking way over here! I'm going to try to basically smash it and just try to draw its attention. As I utilize Rage of the Streets, that is going to hit. I am going to do 10 damage to it. Or, not, sorry. 13 points of bloodshed damage. As I am going to say, I think I can beat this thing to death. As I then pull one of my hands, I just punch the head. I just punch the eel. Oh, God. Oh. No, I miss with my punch. You throw this final punch, but you kind of glance it off. This sinewy, muscular form of the eel. Ah, fuck! Watch the accent! Coe, please for me, roll a strength-based intimidation check. Oh my, I failed horribly. Do you still have a card against Racer? I do, actually. Will it help, though, at all with that roll? Hold on. Could I actually use my Bark Inspiration? I will... I actually think I can probably... I can hit with Bark Inspiration. Hold on. Shots howdy, shots howdy. I am going, so I got a five. Plus seven into twelve. So I'm going to roll three. If I can roll three, I'm going to hit it this way. On a d6? On a d6. Six. Ah! So I actually manage your hand. And I feel, shut up, shut up. You're right, Howdy Bunny. With the power of Howdy Bunny and friendship, I can do anything! Yes! I lunge forward and... Howdy Bunny! Bunny punch! And I... Very funny. I'll punch forward. I'll probably do no damage. Oh, my. Five plus five. Six points of punch. Five. Oh, worth it. Six points of lunatic damage. Every punch. Harry Blake Cass. Stop cursing yourself. Shrub's case. This has felt pretty brutal so far, but you have actually been doing some pretty serious, landing some pretty serious blows to this heel. And you start to see. I can't do anything. Especially on that final howdy bunny punch. You can see. As you look out, Rhett, you'd be able to see this best of all. but a little just strands of plumy red start to mix into that murky water. Oh. As once more, the... I take 10 points of damage. No, I wrote it down. I wrote it down. I don't remember. I take the acid damage here. Acid damage is triple damage. The eel will screech out once more and electrify the water. Anybody who's standing in the water, so Rhett, not you, anybody else will have to make... One con save. Come on. 20. Con save DC 15. Natural 20 for... Sorry, natural 19 for 22. Nice. Oh, hell yeah, and you pass. Seven. Seven? Five. Five? All right, here we go. the crackling of electricity hits the water as these arcs of lightning charge out from the eel racing towards you all. Ziggy Pike, you're able to take it but shrug it off a little bit. You take half of five points of lightning damage. Coe and Pixel, you take five points of lightning damage and you are restricted to an action, bonus action, or movement on your next turn. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Avantress and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon-exclusive campaign set on the high seas, Shroud over Saltmarsh. You can also go to thecrookedmoon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. Ziggy. Ziggy. Why the fuck would the defensive barriers be made of lightning? Ziggy's so pissed. Nothing is going right today. It's probably laser energy. I launch a classic script. I just fucking hit the button and magic missile at first level, and it'll take three, four plus... I'll ping him. Oh, shit, I ping him. Four. Six. Eleven points of force damage. fly directly into the side of this creature, and I will go... Oh, wait. Two, three, four, five. Okay, I managed to just dodge around the acid line that's sizzling here, and... The rest is gone. Just the creature cover. It's a one-time... Oh, it's not a line that burns? No, it's every one of the lines is coated. I just wanted to make sure that I avoided it, and... So if you lose concentration or stop concentrating on it, How's it looking? After that, as you launch your script and those same laser dots draw on the target, and then your blasts fire out, the eel is actually starting to look a little rough. It's easier for you to see, Rhett, because from your vantage point, you can see the blood as it starts to pool in the water around this creature. But it only seems to serve to make it angrier. as it reels back looking up at you, Rhett. It once more opens its jaw, but not to lunge forward. You hear the familiar shriek as it cries out at you. And it will attempt. With a 26, it will fire a sonic pulse at you. Sonic pulse, sonic pulse, sonic pulse. Was it getting healed by the lightning, or was it just in you? Just in me, I think. I mean, who knows? Then I maintain concentration on Witch Balls, and I use it with my bonus action. Nothing happens, but it looks cool coming out of my grid boy. You take 19 points of thunder damage, and you have the deafened condition. Eye view? Yep. As it turns and fires out this terrible, shrieking sonic pulse. What? Oh, did it make an attack? Yeah, I made an attack. I mean, it rolled at 26. Oh, my shield doesn't even hit it. Oh, yeah. Sorry, how much damage? You and me both, man. Oh, man. I really think it was 19. I think that sounds correct. I think it was 19 points of thunder damage, and you have to deafen the condition. Oh. I'm like Barry Pepper in Stated by Ryan in the clock tower. where he is sniping Nazis and he turns and he looks at the tank doing this. Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, God, that's funny. I didn't roll my... How long was your D4 last? Oh, you were supposed to use it on your next. I didn't roll the D4. You haven't rolled anything yet. Yeah, so see this one. See your next one. I don't think I have. And you're good? I'm going to need it. Please! I need this! Yes! Oh, fucking go. Nice. Fucking great goal. Oh! I'm good. Fucking great goal. Thank you. Compensation is still good. So yeah, if it wants to get the acid off of it, it has to use action to, like, roll around in the board. Oh, okay. So. Well, I mean, wait, what even was that? Was that between Ziggy and Pixel? That was presumably, oh yeah. That was like a legendary actor. Okay, so it's the pixel. Yeah. Pixel, she's not really sure what to do. She looks out from behind Pike and she looks up at this worm and she goes, Hey worm! Your size is slightly below average! And she casts Vicious Mocker in. And the yellow eyes lock on you again. And then you all see the tendrils covering something. Fucking get him, bitch! Wisdom's thing. Wisdom's thing. You're in the crowd here right now. It's called vicious mockery, not cruel and unusual punishment. Jeez. Get him a break. Oh, damn. It failed. It's going to take three psychic damage and its next attack will be at disadvantage. Oh, that's really good. And it will do it It will look at you having just said that Sick burn And it will lunge its jaws Towards you Almost with this like Hey, it's too far You know I'm actually doing it A real natural 20 and a 6 So it will Like As the tears fill its eyes It's Jaws will... As it just totally whips attacking on you. My ears are ringing. It's like the opening scene of Staving Private Ryan. I see a guy who's like guts is going to... Oh, my God. No, actually, in a serious way, I probably do sort of flash back to that moment of, you know, an explosion going off or the tank that I'm driving, you know, going over a mine or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jeez! Horrible things that I've gone through. And I sort of snap out. Oh, my God. Fucking survive. I am going to sort of neural connection that my pack has when it's sort of plugged into my flesh. one of the arms will come out that sort of has a syringe on the end of it and it's going to stab me in the chest and a plunger will up a purple medicinal ether and then cast Cure Wounds nice Cure Wounds and that is they bought the shit the hell out of that oh damn 10 points of healing. Okay, not bad. It's pretty good. Mike. Oh, I'm sorry. No, no, no. And then what I'm going to do is... Oh, no, I have a 15. I am going to back up. If he's, like, still down there, I'm going to, like, back up and just, like, after getting hit, I'm going to, like, my soldier train will kick in. I'm going to drop on the ground. get prone and like heal myself and just sort of take a round and try to get out of it it's like minus C. Nice! I like it. I would definitely say like if you go prone on the top of this thing, you 100% kind of like are just looming over and can almost even take shots at it while you have... I'm still backing up five feet away from the edge. If I want to shoot an external, do my crawl up. Like, I'm trying to win snipers. They'll get saved in front of the run. Just like a champion prior to run. Exactly right. Jesus. I use another focus point and I take three radiant shots at this thing. AC is 15. One misses, one hits. And the third one's on two of three again, two of three. Three. Six. 16 points of radiant damage from the gauntlet and I only have one focus. Once again you fire out Two land, one goes wide, but it's the two land. This thing is starting to look extremely rough. As it's now, it's still from the scars of the beetle. You can see almost the wound beginning to close, just freshly closing from its tail where the beetle pierced it earlier in the week. All of the fresh gashes and beatings you've given it, the water around you now solidly turned red. I'm just sticking with Pixel to make sure that I don't leave her alone. You're right in front of her. Co. One, two, three. I'm waiting around. Hey! You big, dumb, ugly bastard! I'm too far. Oh! I mess with my club. I mess with my club. It clanks off or bounces off some of the scales. is I'm going to use my bonus action to once again, I'm doing it for you, Howdy Bunny. Such Howdy! And I'm going to punch in again. That'll hit. Okay. As I... I don't know if I'm going to get in the round. My hand goes with the burning power of friendship and Howdy Bunny as I use Divine Smite on my unarmed strife. as I, uh, as my, uh, arm will surge with, uh, this crackling, uh, lightning-like radiance, but it's really my soul stuff, my essence. As I, uh, as I pull forward, as I, we're gonna get out of this bitch! We're gonna get out of this everybody! Shatownie! As I, uh, punch forward, as I'm going to deal, uh, 1d6 plus, uh, 2d8. Okay. Hell yeah. That's not bad. Hell yeah. 14 plus 10 is 24 points of bludgeoning and raging. Thank God. As I feel with pixels, the pixel, the inspiration that I have, although I've expended it magically, it still lingers as I feel like, and there's also a lot of feelings that I have. that being here, I suddenly activated and triggered in memories, and I am just, feel like I can take on this monster on my own, even though I know I have my friends. You almost for a moment pierce your club into the ground as you pull back, your fist glowing with this awesome power. Howdy Bunny begging you to defeat this eel. And as you throw forward, how do you want to do this? wow I did not think you were going to say that I'm holding my club done I can do it and I stay all day and I before I say that imagine being a donation for a sponsorship howdy buddy shucks howdy and I punch forward my surging crackling lightning-shaped energy punches forward, and I want to basically, maybe there's a weak point, because actually towards the back of its tail, the beetle has sliced, and the acid and the acid, and I basically punch in, and I want to send this crackling energy into its unnatural bio-engineer's heart and fry this thing until it smells like the fryer of a short Joe Goldens. you crash down your mighty fist with your radiant lightning strike as your punch breaks open the wound of the beetle once again burned away any healing from the acid as your fist almost gets a little covered as you go in and your furious might as you swing down the crackling radiant blow you feel the tremors as you all see the eel rise up almost like a cresting wave until all the muscles spasm and contract, until it throws its head up and it sways and sways, until it crashes down, sending out small ripples of a wave, as it will begin to wash anyone who's in the water back towards against the walls as you have finally felled the beast. Oh, you did it! You did it! We did. Oh, my God. Howdy Bunny ain't no kid shit anymore. No. Howdy Bunny is a cold-blooded killer. What's going on? I shouldn't have been doing anything. You're a good job. Are we all alive? You good up there? Yeah, I'm alive. Barely. Thanks for shielding me, Pike. Gosh, that got really scary. It's the least that I could have done. With, you all have managed to be relatively stealthy so far, making it around this through your ruse and with care. But in this coliseum in the dead of night, in the very, very wee hours of the morning, facing off against the Leviathan with its terrible booming shriek and its crackling explosions, you get the sense that you should leave as quickly as you can. And whatever your plan is to head where, potentially back to the Rhapsody, you should make way. Let's get back to the Rhapsody. Give me a second. I've got to get down, and I'm running low on ether. The tank's dry. I think all of our tanks are fucking dry. We'll catch you. No, no, I'll get down. Don't worry. I can get you down if you let me in 10 minutes. I've got 10 minutes, and I can get you down. I'm going to just try to clamber down, and the arms from my pack will come out and try to help me. And I'm going to do my best to basically climb down this thing if I can. And if I slip and fall, I slip and fall. No. Roll athletics or acrobatic check. I slip and fall. Okay. No, I will cast a load balancer, and a floating disc appears underneath you, made of pure hypergrid energy, glowing green, and you fall what you think is suddenly all of a sudden going to be a 30-feet drop, because it's a three-inch drop where you land on your ass. and I will subtly move it. It can only really just fall slowly, and so I'll just sort of elevator you down until you get all the way down to the... Here I come. I have some use. What does it say to you? I'm going to, like, crack my nose back into place and kind of like... Ah! Fuck! As I use lay on all 15 points of my lay on hand and use my metal to basically heal up and get cracked. That was incredible, you guys. I didn't help a lot. I thought that perhaps the things that keep the monsters in would hurt it, and it didn't hurt it at all. How are you feeling, Pike? I'm all right. Honestly, I'm better than I was before, that's for sure. Everyone did fucking great. Let's get the fuck out of here before the cops get here. Yeah, yeah, we gotta go. We gotta go right now. Back to the space bar. As you run out and you start to leave the Coliseum, you see the lightning arms recede in flame turrets. come out and start blasting fire into the Coliseum. Whoa! Now what? Now for the Beatles! The lightning was for the Beatles? Oh, I could have captured that! As you race out of the Coliseum. I have flaming fear! I didn't prepare today, and I'm trying to respect the game shape, but, but, that's thematically incorrect! As you make your way out of the Coliseum, you make back to the elongated white luxury almost limos. You hop in. Whomever at this point takes the driver's seat. I got the keys. Everybody drives in. You clamber into the car, and you blast off, making a quick getaway. You see almost like smoke, the smell, like a short Dave Golds. What did you say? A short Joe Golden. A short Joe Golden. A short Joe Golden. As you go away, the smell of the fryer to short Joe Golden. It smells pretty good. It just erupts in the air. Fuck. You move away quickly, but try to be careful to not arouse too much attention in the event that you start to see people. You say, what's going on? Maybe look around and maybe make their way up there. And slowly, I mean, quickly but carefully, you navigate your way back to the Rhapsody. And this is still wee, wee hours of the morning. So nobody is really up or active, and you're able to unfettered make your way back to the ship that you call home. Get you home, all right? Just take a rest for a little bit, right? No, we should call you a cab. Yeah, we can't take you back. We can't be seen. We got to fuck you out of here. Yeah, I don't think that this would go unnoticed. No. And that's why just take a breather, you can meet my dog, and we can fix you a drink or coffee, whatever it is. He's a good boy. Okay. I'll walk up the ramp, and I am and I look back at the car, and I'm like man, we really fucked that up. Mike, you dig it back, don't you? Yeah, I'll deal with it. Okay, I don't feel like it. Well, just for when you go. Here, give me the keys. I take the Pike name tag off the key ring, I take the Pike key ring in my back pocket to keep the rental keys away from the gift that Petzl has given me. Don't tell them that I spilled any of the soda on the keys. I'm going to tell them that you spilled all of the soda on the keys. Don't tell them. There are other problems that they can focus on. The keys are covered in Bahamut Blast. I'm going to make sure I pay focus on the Bahamut Blast. Oh, fuck it. All right. Let this be a lesson here. For what? For being clumsy. I don't know. Use the time. There's definitely, there's absolutely a lesson here for you to learn. The couple of things are all the way over here. What's the thing? Club says they're drinking it on the other side. Why would I think that I was going to fall? It's kind of a wide base. It's a big culpac. Yeah, it's when it was weird. It's like upside down. I look at Rhett and I'm like, kid wants to be a bounty hunter and can't use a goddamn cover. You're aboard the Rhapsody. This is our ship. Well, it's Rhapsody. This is where we live and this is how we fly across the galaxy. Welcome to the Rhapsody. It has this beautiful charm to it, Pixel. You've never been here before or seen it. But it has this kind of like homey cared for, gives that kind of vibe almost as you walk in. It doesn't feel like just any other ship. And while you're here spending a little bit of time just as everyone licks their wounds, you feel the exhaustion that had overcome you before leave your body and you recover your level of exhaustion. And here's my dog and my buddy Hank and co-pilot. Oh my gosh. Can I pet him? Please. Is he up to greatest? Yes! And Pixel's not even just going to go over and pet him. She's just going to jump down onto the ground and pick him up and roll over onto her back and just play with him and scratch his belly. Oh, my gosh, he's the greatest thing I've ever seen! Oh, he's a good boy. Although he's a little chunkier than he was a few months ago. He's been eating a lot of Digibones. He's just perfect. He's perfect to my ears. Yeah, look at him. Look at this belly. Wow, you guys got something special here, don't you? And here's the, I'll give her to the lounge. You take her in towards the back of the hangar as you walk past the sparrow, Red's personal ship. You kind of walk her through. The Coast Bike, who also, actually right next to the sparrow, I believe. You give her the whole kind of view of the hangar bays. You go up the flight of stairs at the back that lets you out into the lounge area. You see that kind of crescent couch, the soft glow of the TV at one end, the dining table on the other side, dishes piling up in the sink. You've really made a home out of this place for yourselves, haven't you? It's pretty nice, yeah. You're like a little family. Well, I just joined like a week or two ago. Really, I never would have been able to tell you. Act like you've known each other for that. Two weeks ago, I guess, yeah. It ain't much, but it's relatively honest work. I think we're all pretty suited for it. I mean, how do you do all that crazy shit with your keytar? Oh, you know, I've always had a knack for music and stuff, but once I got this keytar, it just kind of unlocks something inside of me, you know? That's the it factor. I mean, is it what you were saying? the wrath of the speaking either the something, the essence maybe that's what it was maybe it can speak to you oh damn I mean when I was looking for a pencil it was the keytar that allowed me to hone in on her signal maybe you're right maybe it's all dumb fucking luck who knows but either way I'm glad you're okay and... Yeah, a little bit bruised, a little bit fattered, but... You're talented as hell. Clearly far more powerful than you let on. It's real sweetie. What are you feeling? I got coffee, I got water, I got gex, I got... You still have a few beers left? Right? We got beers, we got... Oh, do you want to keep up a burrito? Oh, yeah, I got burritos. Do you want a burrito? They're big burritos. They're like the size of your arm. I really like you guys a lot. What I want is the book. This is your home. It's beautiful. You've got that great dog. What about your family? Mine's at the classroom. That's where my room is. Above the stage. I wanted to show you a dance already. I wanted to show you all the other games I got I got a lot of such a cool stuff we've got a Zeta Max documentary I've got the the burrito I mentioned the burrito already right we have video games we have TVs it's a good one and I'm glad to all that that's what you think I really do but I'll just give you a reason to come back You have to come see me, you know? Because the last time we took pictures, you didn't look at me even once. And maybe the next time we go to the mall and take pictures, I can get you to look at me twice. Look, it doesn't have to. We made a promise, but it doesn't have to be. There's plenty of extra rooms. Oh, we got plenty. We even cleaned out the slime room, too. Yeah, we have at least two more. I, I'm not going to ask. Um. And, and, I mean, with that magic that you have, with your keytar, I mean, you make a great fucking bounty on her. Hey, that's a pipe you keep changing. Yeah. That pipe you showed me? Yeah. I think it was intuition. I didn't give it to you the first time, but. And out of my pack, I pull out a Howdy Bunny keychain. I picked this up for you. You drive, too, it seems. I ride. You ride. That's a cool thing to say. Sure. I'm counting. Thank you, thanks. You're welcome. I would love to learn what happened with the slime room. It's not what you think. That's probably for the best Johnny's please Oh it's not a slime room anymore Why did I just say that? Oh I'm just saying that He cleaned out the slime room Don't leave with the slime room He was a nematode And apparently He discharges fluids And I don't know Why he couldn't aim I don't know I just helped clean up I thought what I was I was trying to head bitch in I thought what I was thinking Was worse than what the reality was But I wish I had stuck With what I was thinking Yeah I guess it sounds a lot worse The reality is actually pretty bad But Fix, you don't have to. But I... I'm telling you... But I want to. I know you don't get it because you don't know him like I do, but Mr. W means the world to me. He's all the gods. He's everything. And I know that none of you will understand, but I want to be a star. What I feel when I'm on a stage, It's kind of like what that creepy guy says It's the harmony It's what's inside of me It causes through me I need to be on a stage I need to do what I do best I need to like you guys I don't do this bounty stuff I put on makeup and I listen to Veda Max And send me anything With my guy Ko Everybody's got to make their own choices Pixel. But it's the wrong fucking choice! He is trying to have you fucking killed, Pix! You're gonna go back to that fucking asshole to the glitch room and that fucking concert and all these fucking assholes in this piece of shit city. That's what it's for? You know what, Pix? I'm fucking held my tongue. I know someone who made the same fucking decision you're trying to make. And it destroyed her. And if you make the same decision, you're going to be fucking destroyed too. Okay? But you don't know that because you don't know him. I fucking do. You think you know, but you don't know. You're not part of this. I know. Mobster's a lot fucking tougher, smarter, and crueler than fucking Redline. Okay? Just because you showed up when you did doesn't mean that he didn't have someone coming in to save me. just because the dawn made him where were where are they where the fuck were they we left we didn't have time to see them but when you come back to see me when you realize that I'm not wrong about this I'll show you and we'll have another week together we'll do more volleyball we'll go racing we'll do more clubs we'll go shopping it'll be amazing and you can tell me all about the things that you've done Picks You gotta make your own choice I don't know why I thought this time It would be different Thanks for the howdy bunny Have a good life And I walk off I walk off and I'm just like Come on Cole I've said my piece You saved our asses And for that I will always be grateful. Sorry we lied to you. As far as I'm concerned, if you ever need anything from us, drop us a line. Yeah, you know, if you ever... Back in the city, you know where to find me. And maybe someday you'll look up and you'll see my name in life. Take care of yourself, all right? Hey, um, I don't think I'll be needing this. Can I hand you back the cigarette you gave me on the first day? Right. You ever find yourself thinking about one small globe and all the way across the universe? Just smoke that one for me. I'll nod, I'll stick it back in the pack, and then I'll turn to get a drink. and just kind of nod as I walk. I'm not far, but I leave, you know, I set my peace. Oh, Mr. Rhett? You don't have to call me Mr. or anything. You just Rhett. Okay, Mr. Rhett. Do you think you could call me a call? I should probably be getting home. Of course. I'll reach into my shirt. I'm sure you don't want this back I don't think I'm going to be needing it I don't want it back and I really want you to keep it alright just give it a couple weeks this whole thing to be long behind us look we can't kidnap you and I know Coe's cross with you you think she'll forgive me this is fresh alright and you know here's the thing I think it's hard when you've seen so many people go down a path you might not agree with. I know. And I've learned in my life, everybody needs to make their own choices. And everybody needs to make their own mistakes. And I'm not saying what you're doing is a mistake. That remains to be seen, unfortunately. But I can see your point. Thanks, Mr. Red, that means a lot. That being said, if you ever change your mind, you feel like a career change might be in order you always have a spot on the crew of the Rhapsody Thank you Mr Red I gonna go ahead ahead and hit that dog one more time and Oh gosh You real cute No, look. You're real cute. Can I give him a treat real quick, though, first? Here, here, here. It's a digipone. I'll go to my desk and I'll pick up the phone and I'll find some local... I'll call her a black car. I won't go limo, but I'm not going to call her a cab. I'll call her a black car. I'll play with the dog until the car gets here and then as I'm getting ready to leave the Rhapsody I'll look back at Rhett Goodbye Vicky Can I get a hug? Yeah And I'll rush over really quickly and jump hug You can touch me I give you a big hug This is me, because you're small I give you a big hug but I don't see it much else I just sort of... I'm going to miss you. And I'm sorry I didn't look at you during the... I'll see you. Yeah, I'll see you. I followed and subscribed to your various profiles. Oh, you did? That's amazing. Check out your DMs. Okay. I sent you a whole long message. It's instructions for removing the microphone from your mirror and from your lipstick. Why didn't you send it to me in ones and zeros? Well, I thought... Oh, I'll type it out. Okay. Bye, Mike. Bye. Good luck, all right? Like I said, I meant it. You can always call us, all right? We'll be here in a flash. Uh, Mr. Rhett, don't forget, if your head's getting too full and your heart's being weighed down, you can always confide in my Digi Diary, okay? And I know she'll have to ask, but can you give me one huge favor? Anything. Can you tell Chloe I'm going to miss her? I'll pass it on. All right. And I'm sure she's going to miss you. Yeah. I'll walk you down there. The car should be here in a moment now. All right. Bye, everyone. Thanks for a whirlwind adventure. Cheers. Cheers. I'll see you in the Glitz room. I'm going to go take a shower and clean my pants. Huh? Nothing. All right, let's go. So we'll walk down. And you're easily able to call her a black car. The ramp in it. The bay is open and ready. There's a car out at the end with a driver waiting to take her back to the glycerin. You made many concierge connects in your time as Rhett Rye. And it was old hat to call on one of them to get a black car over to you. You see Pixel bounce down, tired, excited, ready to be going home. As she throws one final wave at you, she gets into the car. You watch, pausing for a moment, as you see this black car hover up into the air, and its lights, its taillights, leave a little bit of strands of light as they disappear off into Paradise City before they make a turn and you lose sight of her over the horizon. You raise your hand, almost hesitating for a moment, but you tap the button to raise the walkway as you head back in towards the ship. so with this you all meet back in the lounge having gotten through all of these events what started off feeling like you had such a clean clear plan you'd executed so well your guises perfect your ruse clean your backings in place even for for a week there living in the lap of luxury, really, really experiencing that of the Golden God Hotel, letting yourselves have a good time, spending that money, investing in what you would hope to pay back tenfold. Now finding yourselves once again in much need of notes to take care of the Rhapsody and to fund your mission moving forward. However, with this new information on Rex Maxim and the knowledge that he'll be appearing in the Seventh Heaven Casino in but three weeks' time, and he is a very possible key connect to the Don himself. and to bring in the Don, the bounty of the head of the Scarlet Eye Syndicate, you know that you would be set up indefinitely, for time to come. With that information and with a new bounty given up on Weedle Locks, your sights set cleanly on the future, you take steps to put Paradise City behind you as you all settle in for the next leg of your journey. Rhett, you sit calmly in the captain's chair. Ziggy, in the shower as you reflect on the events of the day. Coe and Pike. I'm in the sandbag. I'm just waiting. Coe, the sandbag, weighing into it. The experiences of the week sitting very heavy on you. And Pike, as much as you try and wash away also the events of the week, just something about those red eyes hang in the back of your mind. And as much as you try and escape it, there's just something you can't outrun. But as you get ready to once again head amongst the stars to your next leg of the journey, that's where we'll transition back to pixel the car drops you off at the front of the front of the glitz room you see that classic neon sign the globelin not even lit up at this point of the morning um you step through the doors as you walk back into this expansive dark room. You make your way down the hallway. You first pass the speakers with that thrumming red glow of energy. As you walk past them, you're immediately snapped back into that room just for a moment, surrounded by the Viceroy as this sensation pulling on your pulling on your harmony, pulling on your spirit, just fills you just very briefly, very briefly, with this momentary sense of dread. But you shake it off, and you're able to right yourself again. And you feel once more kind of back to status quo. You're home, you're back at the glistrum, This adventure's behind you. You're able to, uh, reattain some form of normalcy. Stardom is just a month away. Uh, you make your way once again down the, that labyrinthian corridor at the back of the Glitz Room, heading towards Weedlebox's office. Um, you'll walk back less at this time of day, but still an amount of goons and guards who will see you and nod at you and say hi. All business as usual. Hey, Mike! Hey. It's the circumstance. Oh, sorry. Hey, the circumstance. Oh, that's a different guy! Oh, shit. Sorry, the other Mike. No, no. Say, how you doing? How you staying? Hey, Pixel. Yeah. Yeah, what is the mother, Mike? You, as you make, you see bartenders, waitresses, really that early morning crew kind of coming in just to kind of set up for the day. Everyone knows you. Everyone says hi to you. Wave back. It's all smiles. Hey, Enzo. Hey, what's up, buddy? My name is Enzo. Thank you. Talk like this. This is what Enzo sounds like. I refer to myself in the third person. I'm a real tough customer. Enzo is a 36-year-old Revan. You say your hello to everyone, and you make your way back down that labyrinthian hallway, and you end up once more at that door, the GJW, emblazoned in there. as you push it and enter. Honey, you in here? You see slumped over the table the bald patch of Grobulus. Just to the side, a large bottle of drink that's been drained almost to the bottom. as he hears the door swing open and he hears his voice. Oh, God. Oh, I'm being haunted. Honey, did you have a bad night? Me too. Oh, no. Pixie does. Yeah, I'm going to tell you something. Oh, is it really you? Yeah, I got to cut to the chase. I think that Don gave you a bad tip. That guy was no good. Oh, yeah. Well, I don't understand. You met the viceroy. You're back. Yeah, I'm back. It was a long night. I did what I said. We can talk about it more in the morning, but let me get up on your lap. Oh, Pixie Dust. Oh, I'm so happy to see you. Oh, me too, honey. Oh, the morning light chased away that scary darkness. Let me rub out that Oh, there's no one quite like you As he bangs his rings on the table As he's done every time since you've seen him Something about this act Snaps you kind of simultaneously into the past And all the way forward And in one moment You make several connections He's always worn selections of rings that's gone into his kind of habit of knocking the table on excitement. And all of this hits you at once. You realize when you were previously faced with the Viceroy, he wore an emblem on his neck. And he felt it felt familiar, but you couldn't quite place it. And it's in this moment you realize that Weedlebox has worn the same emblem on one of his rings next to his signet ring that he's worn emblazoned with his initials. That eerie sensation, the glowing red eyes, the pull on your energy, on your life force, it felt familiar because you have been a part of it for a very long time. As you have stood on the stage unwillingly, the technology around you, the speakers as you have played your music, you recognize the sensation as what the as as concerts that have been put on have been affecting people encouraging them to take red line as you were you were playing this performance it hits you all at once the viceroy the red line the speaker the energy we do box the viceroy the red line the speakers of the energy, Weedlevox, your last month's years, he has used you. Whether or not he believes that he truly has some form of feelings for you, he has used you to his own sick game to push product and whatever else the bottom line was for time and time again. And not only that, that sense of dread takes seat in your stomach once more, but a sickening, sickening sensation as the realization washes over you. Oh, Pixie Dust, I'm so glad you're back. Come on over, sit on my lap. Come on in. Oh, I can't believe it. I can't believe it, Janie. Oh, I go. I really thought. Oh, never mind what I thought. I'm just so happy you're back. I'm happy to be back. Oh, my little songbird. Oh. Your little pixie dust. My little pixie dust. Oh, gosh. Oh, you're so beautiful. I could die. I'll slowly climb up into his lap, facing him. And I'll wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his neck. Oh, yeah. I was really scared tonight, Mr. W., but I'm glad to be home. You love me, right? Oh, I love you so much, doll. Of course you're home. You're never going anywhere again until we make it big, of course. Until you strike it big, superstar. You're naming lights, you're going to shine. But you're home. I'll always be there with you. Until you make me a star, doll. Oh, in the night sky, there'll never be darkness again. You're light across the whole galaxy. Oh, gosh, the illumination. What is it? What? You and this home and the family we have here. And to be a star, it's what I've always wanted. Yeah, me too, doll, me too. I had a really hard night tonight, honey. Do you think we could do some glimmer and then maybe get some sleep? Oh, you're speaking my language. I don't know what to do. I mean, are you going to set it up for me? I'm feeling kind of weak and I've never asked. And I'll show like one of the bruises on my arm. Would you mind setting it up to me this time? That visibly unsettles him. Yeah, don't you worry. This one time, let me take care of you. I don't know what you went through, but I'm just glad you're back. I'll get it going, all right? I will climb around onto his back and just hold onto him really tightly. Will you help me do my line? Ah, that loving grip, of course. I'll help you do your line. Let's go down together. Yeah, okay, together. Let go away. Together. And he'll set up the lines of glimmer on the table for you, and lean down you around his neck. You'll kind of, like, come over his shoulder as he goes down. The rings now kind of like as his hands are on the table, almost that same eerie. You can't even focus on the lines of it. If you'd been asked to draw it, it would be impossible to recreate. It has this eerie form that sits on the ring, somehow carved, impossible to emulate, right next to his signet ring, GJW signed. and you see them as his palms lay out on the table. And he goes forward, you just over his shoulder and... Oh, yeah! Just what I needed, honey. Oh, me too, doll. I'm so glad you're back. I'm glad you're back. Oh, I thought I was going to drink this place dry. I'll go in for a really big hug and I'll bury my face in his neck and I'll kiss along the throbbing vein there. Oh, don't I believe again! As I reach into my shirt and I pull out the vial that Rex gave me. And while he is leaning towards me on the other side of his neck, exactly where you would put red line, I will attempt to press the vial and inject it, whatever it is that's in this vial. I missed you so much, honey. Oh, what a day. What a day. Make a sleight of hand check at advantage. Oh, God. Where is sleight of hand? Pretty good. Fifteen? Oh, don't ever leave me again. You know, honey, the thing about love is... Was that red line? We don't do that. Big she does, you know, we don't do that. No, we don't. And I don't think it was. But the thing about love is, Mr. W, it comes on really fast sometimes. Like the way my love for you came on really fast. Oh, honey, it's all right. And he starts to massage your shoulder. It'll be over soon. But it also can go away really fast, you know? When you realize that you're being lied to and that the person who's supposed to love and care for you doesn't love and care for you at all. So then I'll lean down and kiss his cheeks. And another thing about loving, It's not just what you and I had. It's the love of a family. People really do look out for you, you know? Or burst into a place and rescue a girl they barely even know. Just because she didn't do nothing wrong. That's love, too. I love you, Mr. W. I love you. I loved you. But not anymore. I'm going to be a star. I'm going to do it on my own. Oh, you drop this. And I'm going to reach over and I'm going to grab his cigar cutter. And I'm going to look to the hand that has the ring, the signet ring. You won't be alive, but they can get something with proof, I think. And then I look towards the ring with the symbol of the varg. And this to me. because I'm close right. I'm strong. And I pull off that ring and I pocket it. And then I slide the cigar cutter over his finger and I press down. And with the thumb, his finger hits the table. Thanks, Mr. W. You always were taking care of your pixie dust. And I'll snatch it up, reach into his pocket, and grab a big bag of glimmer. and I'll turn towards him. Guess this is goodbye. You might need to find a new headliner. And I walk out of the door and slowly shut it behind me, and I see the other mic, not the circumstance. Hey, you might not want to go in there for a while. I gave him the full show tonight, and he's deep in dreams of Arcadia, so... I'm going to head back to my room and I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, we know how you leave him. We'll let him rest, okay? Yeah. You sleep well, Pixie. You probably got to recover, too. Oh, you know it. I'm exhausted. Hey, when's your next performance? We'll talk later. Have a good night, Monty. Yeah, take care. You too, honey. And then Pixel will head off to her room above the stage. As you inject the bile into him, or as you had seen it there, he was dying badly as the poison took place. as he had started out in this orange hue, you would see his skin change into different shades. Green, yellow, red, purple, finally ending on purple, almost like his body was frantically finding a color that could save him, desperately and without hope, until finally he expires, slumped over the table, a color he's never worn before. you make your way out you make your way back up to your room and you can do anything you'd like grab whatever you want in there before eventually you make your way out of the Glitz room Rap Z Crew was any of the things that Ziggy gave Pixel in the room during that event I think the person was in the mansion in the club I don't think that I heard any of that but I just am asking I'm going to pause on answering that as we get back to the Rhapsody crew scene and we transition back you were around the ship though you had taken seat In your cockpit, you, Rhett, had made the decision that it was not yet time to take off. You had one or two final emergency repairs before you could finally leave and put Paradise City behind you once and for all. You had chosen to stay just a little longer. Though, you were still getting ready to finally take off. You find yourself in the hangar bay once more bay door down, working on one of the hinge joints yourself, ensuring that the seal is seal tight for space travel. Pike is there at your side. What was the damage on the rental car? Well, not good. I'd argue that the information we got about the Don was worth it, but I guess we'll see. Look, I know, I know, don't read me the riot acts here. This was a calculated risk. It just turns out I'm not so good at math. You could argue maybe this went tits up, but I think we're playing the long game. I think we're vesting our money and we're letting it grow. I hope you're right. I feel you're right. Hank, are we fueled up? Shouldn't be too much longer on this hinge. We can get out of here. Hank gives you the all green light. You know that it is very shortly now that you'll be ready to go and leave for the final time. And it's at that moment, while you and Pike standing in the mouth of the hangar bay, as you work on this feel, something strange trots into view, coming just over the horizon line. You look out, you try and focus on it, and it almost looks like, if you had to take a guess, a moving, living stack of boxes. Kind of beautiful, like luxury boxes. There's bows, there's bags. And as it approaches you, this tall section of stacked, multi-colored boxes, you realize, you see a tiny pair of feet moving under it. Some kind of new gunk throw it or something? I mean, gunk fuck? No, I... No, it's good fancy. You hear the huffing and feel and hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet as Pixel... Mr. Red! ...tards back in the view. I've got to get the boxes. We're coming. We're coming. Mr. Red! Hold on one second. Hold on. I'll throw my shit on the ground. And we'll hustle out to her. Give us that. Yeah, here. Give us some of the boxes. My caboodle. My caboodle. Oh. What's a kaboomah? Oh, it's a big pink one. Oh, my God. You're back. That big pink one. What happened? Well. Did you change your mind? I mean. I mean, it's a long story, but it boils down to there are all kinds of love. And I might have been wrong about something. And I'll tell you the whole story once we're inside, but. I'll reach into my bag and I'll pull out the finger and the ring. Whoa. Is that what I think it is? I think I might be a bounty hunter. Get inside. I'm right over here with that. Come on, come on. Fire up the engine, please. Everybody in the sign. Here we go. Come on. The bay door in the front of the ship closes. As you hurriedly walk past the ships in that bed, a single turn of the nut bolt secures the seal in place as you hurriedly make your way back to the lounge, just shy of the command center. All hands on deck. All hands on deck. Crew meeting. Woo, woo, woo. Man. I quickly dress and make my way. You all meet back up in the lounge. I gently place all the boxes and stuff you gave me on the floor near the couch. I will show up. I'm in, like, my workout clothes, my boxing clothes. I'm completely drenched in sweat. I have a towel around my neck. I've got just some light gloves on. As I want... What the fuck? Why am I really taking off? Yeah, what's going on? As I will, like, stop. What the fuck is this? As I see her pixel in the left. Yep. There she is. What? Picks, what are you doing? I'm not afraid to say when I'm wrong. I call you a right. And when I realized it, I realized that what I had there wasn't love and it wasn't family. And I don't know if that's what this will be. But if I'm feeling like it could, no pressure. You know, I'm just Pixel. But if you truly mean it, then you will have me. I poisoned a guy and cut his finger off with a cigar cutter, so I think I might be a bounty on it. Yes! I run up, and I immediately pick up Pixel and a big hug. You gotta fucking see this to believe it. I mean, pull it out again. It's a whole fucking finger. The whole thing! And I stole his other ring, too! And it's the colored plum cut directly off the bone. And his initials are still bent into it? The initials. It's the ring that has his emblazoned initials carved into it. Almost like the simplest one he wore, but just the monogrammed. But you remember seeing him in the tones of orange, and this is like a plum as she hands the finger over to you, or produces it for you. Oh, okay. even though he's dead, I think the kill will pay. I was hoping this would do the trick. I mean, without a finger, and I'm sure news will get out eventually, that he's dead. Don't put two and two together. Well, I will... You'll see that as Cole just stops and, like, stunned, and you'll, as you're kind of focused on Ziggy's kind of, like, thinking things a lot, you'll see that Ko is crying. That her blue skin is kind of almost obscuring it, but there are streams of tears. And it almost looks like she's looking past Pixel, and there's her mind and her gaze are elsewhere. And then suddenly she takes a few steps forward, and once Ziggy puts you down, I'll kind of kneel down and like, look, you try to get to your level. Thanks. Oh, it's okay. Don't cry. You know, I wipe the tears away. You're right. I was right. Yeah. Like, really right. I'll tell you all about it later. Yeah, no, I know how right I am. You don't have to rub it in. Okay. But that is the most heavy metal fucking thing I've ever heard. Did I make you proud? You have no fucking idea, Pix. And I'm going to grab a pixel and pick her up. And I'm going to be like... You're swept off the ground. Yeah! Almost like flying through the air from the... Yeah, that's a crew member! And as you rapidly extend like four more feet. It is possible! It is possible! And I'm like crying. As I am... It is possible! You can't... It was not hopeless. I did it! You are a bounty hunter. I'm a bounty hunter and a pop star. You can be both. Whenever I can. Welcome to the crew of the Rhapsody. I'm going to look around at the gang. I'm going to kind of look out one of the windows of the Rhapsody, see how early it is or how late it is, and look to Rhett and say, you want to start breakfast or should I? Let's get going. Why don't you? I'll get this one. Go watch breakfast. I do. Me. I'm taking orders. Yeah, I'll have two. Yeah, all right. Perfect. I throw myself down on the couch. Love him a more. I've lived there forever. I pull out my Digi Diary and I say, Oh, dear diary, today I killed a guy. Yeah, fuck that guy. He deserved to die. Something about sinking into this couch, it's one of the most comfortable seats you've ever taken in this moment. I'll run up to the bridge, just off the half-light of stairs, sit in my seat, and Hank will follow me and get in his seat. And I'll flip some switches, the engines are roaring up. Well, we've got time to kill, but I guess we can start setting our sights on 7th Heaven Casino. Let's just get out in space. And I'll fire up the engines, and we'll lift off, and we'll start to shoot out of the atmosphere. and as I'm sitting there and I'm looking at Hank and I'm looking down and everybody and Pike's making breakfast and everyone's chatting we'll have to give you a diary and I I was in this thing on Captain's Law day one Today was a good day. And then I'm just sort of like talking about myself a little bit, kind of talking a little bit about my feelings, you know, and just sort of kind of opening up about just that I'm happy right now as we shoot off into space. And then once we set the course, I'll join the rest of the crew. A small wait, very small, but a small wait almost feels to transfer. from your person into the DigiDiary as you log your first captain's log. And as you take off into space, you begin to pull away and you leave that beautiful beach town behind you. You break through those same billboards that hang out in space, letting you know all the ways you can spend money as you land in Paradise City. You pass that one familiar one with that smiling cowboy. Rex Maxim, real space cowboy. Lady Luxe smiling casino tour. Join me at 7th Heaven Casino in the Roxel sector. Lady Luxe always on my side. As you fly off and you once again find yourself comfortably sailing, amongst the ether currents. Um, as we go through, I'll enjoy breakfast. Yeah, yeah. Take a nice. Well, you can take any room you want. And, uh, plenty of room. Yeah. Can I have the slime room? Well, there's no slime left, but... Formerly the slime. Yeah, you can take the... Let's figure. We clean it real well. They had Ziggy and I clean. We clean it really well. Well, Ziggy helped. I sanitized it. I used the hypergrid. I deleted all of the invisible stuff. Is there anyone next to me and all of them myself? Well, no, all the crew quarters are all in the same corridor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah, I'll take the sign room. Yeah, it's all in the same hallway. We haven't... I don't know if you're a neighbor to me or what have you, but yeah. It's all close enough. And I mean, you brought practically... I didn't even get a quarter on my stuff. And look, if we torture somebody, you're going to be able to hear everything. Okay. Are you telling me that's only a quarter of your stuff? It's all I could carry. I'm not good at math either, so it might be even less. I'll sigh. Hank is still up there, and I'll hit the comms button on my arm. I'll say, Hank, set a cork for meteor mold. Look at what's shopping. And that's where we'll end the session. Yeah! Holy shit. Good golly, Miss Mom. Thank you so much for listening to the Legends of Avengers podcast. We hope you enjoyed the session. 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